Stephen Mejias

A group of people sit along an old, grimy bar, doing things. Watching, waiting, aspiring. Every single one of them, in one way or another. Watches, waits, aspires. One of them&#151the strangest looking one of all&#151is a black dude with hair like the wind through a California Cypress. Eyes like two half moons. With more care and concern than any of the others, he watches. He watches the man on stage, a fellow named Henry Vestine. Henry is playing guitar, bass, and drums all at once, all by himself.

The Onkyo">http://www.us.onkyo.com/model.cfm?m=TA-RW255&class=Cassette&p=i">Onkyo TA-RW255 dual auto-reverse cassette deck plays tapes(!), offers all sorts of unnecessary conveniences (like Fast-Forward and Reverse), costs $199, and is available NOW.

Perhaps impatience is my fatal flaw, the thing that keeps me forever this close to complete and undying happiness, but never quite there. I’m impatient. About certain things. I’m impatient, for instance, about acquiring a cassette deck. My cassette collection is growing large. My colorful">http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/cassettes_and_vinyl/">colorful cassettes sit on my little footstool, waiting to be played, looking at me like what the hell. What the hell?